I’m adding a new category to the food blog called Eating on a Shoestring. The economy pretty much insists that we cut back a little in different areas of our life, but culinary compromises usually aren’t very appetizing. Or healthy. I was inspired to create this category and try to focus a lot on economical meals and dining by a great cookbook I was sent to review, Eating Well on a Budget (click the link for my review).
Since this great cookbook inspired the category, I thought it only appropriate to get things rolling with a recipe from its pages. This one’s from page 195 – just one of the many, many delicious, nutritious, and budget-friendly recipes in the book.
Here it is exactly as it appears in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Well on a Budget
Bottom of the Bag Chicken
Stop throwing away the crumbs at the bottom of a bag of whole-grain chips or crackers. Turn them into a crunchy coating for oven-baked chicken strips. Store crumbs in an airtight container until ready to use so they do not become stale.
1 lb. chicken breasts
1/2 cup crushed whole-grain chips or crackers
1 egg, beaten
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse chicken breasts and cut into long 1-inch-wide strips. Set aside
- In a large bowl, crush chips or crackers. In a small bowl, beat egg. Dip each chicken strip into egg and then into chip mixture. Coat each piece well and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Bake 15 minutes until crispy. Cool slightly before serving.
Variation: Use white fish or salmon in place of the chicken. Different chips and crackers produce amazingly different tastes. Try flavors such as real Cheddar, sea salt, and vinegar coarse stone-ground wheat, or crunchy corn.
Tasty Tidbits: Serve chicken fingers with several different sauces to add variety to your meals. Try honey mustard, salsa, or for a buffalo wing flavor, serve with sour cream and hot sauce.
Yield: 16 chicken strips (serves 8)
Each serving has only 135 calories and 89 mg sodium
Order The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Well on a Budget
